


collarbones

by ManicPixieDreamPharaoh



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Family Loss, Heartshipping, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Other, They're gross boys who eat pizza in stained shirts sometimes and drink a lot of soda, so basically they're normal boys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-22
Updated: 2017-02-22
Packaged: 2018-09-26 07:34:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9873569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ManicPixieDreamPharaoh/pseuds/ManicPixieDreamPharaoh
Summary: Yugi is privy to seeing Ryou's collarbones, a privilege he is sure nobody else receives.Ryou is a lonely, self sufficient boy with a messy apartment.Yugi thinks he might just be the coolest person he has ever met.





	

Yugi’s eyes follow the painfully slow movement of the third hand of the clock.

Sixty seconds last an eternity. He wedges his fingers between the wood of his desk and the plastic tray beneath it, folded over to toy with the pair of five-sided dice, brushing the raised corners. He tries to remind himself of the familiar form, as if he's afraid it might disappear. He cups his cheekbone with his palm and smiles at the boy who sits one desk over from him, eyes also locked on the clock. All of Ryou’s hair is drawn over the shoulder closest to Yugi, white locks that he knew weren’t nearly as soft or clean as they appeared caught on his cheeks lightly, resting so serenely they could be snowflakes. His school jacket is fastened, the cobalt blue of the collar visible beneath thin hair, it brushes kindly against his jawline.

Ryou likes clothing with high collars, coats and button down shirts that raise around his throat, Yugi loves that about his taste, and yet; On their games nights, the ones with just the two of them, the nights of half eaten pizza long cold in discarded boxes, a halfway-progressed game of monopoly – their rules slowed the game down a lot, the combination of Dungeons & Dragons and Monopoly made for a slow but hilarious gameplay – between them, drinking soda from the bottle, was the only time Yugi ever saw his bare collarbones. Ryou would change in his bedroom, trading his uniform for a tank-top and shorts that hung loosely enough that Yugi was sure he could also fit _his_ legs in there and they’d still have room.

Ryou’s collarbones cast shadows down his pale chest in shades that almost seemed blue, the tendons in his throat dug caves in his neck, Yugi found himself picturing them often. It felt like something shared, quietly passed between them without acknowledgement, something nobody else was granted holy privilege to witness, like a gift that was not often freely given. His collarbones protruded, the bones and tendons of his neck delicate, finely placed. He wondered how it would feel to slip his thumb beneath them, drag it up the tightly drawn strings that connected to his jaw. Yugi felt his face grow hot, an itching heat like shame at the back of his skull.

“Yugi? It’s time for lunch.”

Yugi’s head snaps up. He pushes his chair back from the desk suddenly, wincing at the scraping that echoes through the nearly empty classroom. He smiles meekly at Ryou. “Sorry- I was… in another world.” He stands, his eyes falling to the place where Ryou’s collarbones existed beneath his clothing. He had thought about them so often he was sure he knew where the shadows landed, even through his uniform; noticing the way it clung to the peaks and then fell flat.

“I thought as much, come on, let’s get set up.” Ryou smiles kindly, tilting his head. His hair curls as the uniform suspends the tips.

Yugi nods, lifts the lid of his school desk and removes the dice. He hides them in his closed palm, clenching his fingers around them, he feels each of their points mark holes in his skin. He helps to push their desks together, lining up their notebooks, page over page over page. Yugi reclaims his desk and begins to copy Ryou’s messier notes, blue ink had leaked and blurred his strokes, but Yugi has grown so accustomed to it that he barely has to pause to decipher them. Ryou’s fingers brush over his cheek softly, his fingers guide Yugi’s bangs back from his cheek and ear, before gentle, slightly trembling fingers place the ear-bud into his ear.

Yugi smiles at him as the music floods into his brain. Ryou is one of those incredible people whose taste in music perfectly compliment who he is a person. Their separate ear-buds hang between them, tethering them into the small iPod that Ryou places between them, leaving it unlocked, the offer open for Yugi to change the song. Yugi never does. Ryou’s playlists were a comfort to him, remind him of the way his house held a lingering scent of vanilla candles and teenaged boy, something inherently greasy in the air and yet, because it was Ryou, it was to be expected, and it came together sweetly. 

They work like that, in quiet company, for the better part of fifteen minutes, before all of the notes exist in each of their books. Neither of them particularly gifted when it came to sleep, they had worked out an unofficial schedule to survive school. Yugi was drawn into dreams so deeply that his brain and body simply couldn’t handle being awake and active for more than a few hours at the time, and Ryou was so abhorrent to the very concept of sleeping through the night that his tired eyelids would force rest upon him the moment his brain lost focus. Ryou slept through Science, Yugi through Mathematics, and each took notes detailed enough for the other to learn from them.

Yugi folds his book closed and replaces it inside his desk, removing his earphone. His fist still clenched around the two dice in his left hand, he waits until Ryou had closed his own desk again. “I have something to give you.” He says, too loud, too fast. He winces, “It’s nothing special- I mean, don’t get excited or anything.”

Ryou smiles at him, he was always smiling, that soft and warm smile. It's the same smile he gave when Jounouchi commented on how if he just ate more meat, he’d be able to keep his eyes open through class, somehow, he had still not grasped a proper understanding of Ryou’s veganism. Yugi wished that Jounouchi would catch on more quickly to how uncomfortable he made Ryou feel, knew that he and Honda were the reason he only spent Tuesday lunches with Ryou, because the others took external study that day.

Yugi places the dice in front of Ryou, setting them correctly so that the square base of the tiny pyramids was the support, twin peaks pointing directly toward the roof.

This was stupid.

 

Ryou’s lips parts, lips pulling back into his real smile, his teeth exposed. They weren’t the whitest of teeth, but for some reason Yugi liked them. He likes the tiny signs of Ryou’s nature, wonders if Ryou didn’t brush his teeth often enough because, without sleep as a placeholder between when you were meant to, he wasn’t ever certain when was the best time. He also knows that his entire refrigerator was filled with soda, so he can't rule out that they were just sugar coated. Ryou picks up the dice and places them on his own palm, raises them to eye level.

Each of them a faded gold, with raised triangular peaks and black lines cutting the sides like pieces of a puzzle, numbers stamped onto them. He gently tips each onto their sides, studying them with a wide smile. “I love them. Thank you, Yugi.”

Yugi smiles, feels the warmth bundle into his chest before spreading along his appendages, lingering in his fingers and toes. “I’m glad. Grandpa found them for me, and I wanted you to have them. To think of me.”

 

He thinks about the implications of gifts to remind somebody of yourself.

He thinks of flowers in ribbons and of mixtapes.

He thinks of fingers entwined and red strings.

 

“And- I mean, I know that you like Egypt a lot too! Your dad- The ring- “

Ryou cuts him off. “Thank you.” He says again, still studying the tiny dice. Yugi wonders if he was doing it to be polite. Second-hand dice weren't a very good gift, and there wasn’t much to take in about them. “Maybe they’ll be my good luck charm.” Ryou smiles, his face warm, as he leans in, hair falling loosely around his cheeks, and wraps his arms around him.

Yugi closes his eyes and rests his head into the embrace, lets his weight fall lightly onto him. “I can’t wait to use them.” Ryou’s voice is soft by his ear.

Yugi smiles contently while his face is hidden from view, before he pulls back softly and drags his feet onto his chair, tucking them beneath himself so he was supported by his knees. [“Will you wait until tomorrow?”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xLvwCNISq0)

Ryou’s eyes light up at the reminder of their evening in. “Of course! We can use them for the first time, together.”

**Author's Note:**

> There will be a song for each chapter linked in the story. 
> 
> There are two sides to every story, and the music tells the other side of this one.
> 
>  
> 
> My Tumblr is ManicPixieDreamPharaoh if you want to chat. :)


End file.
